While Chicago Police officers battle rising crime, police administrators are battling rising legal costs. An investigation from the Better Government Association found that the City of Chicago has been paying an average of $93 million per year for legal judgments and settlements, including many involving the police department.
The investigation found that police spending on settlements and judgments has been over budget in 12 of the last 13 years. It also noted that citywide expenditures on settlements and judgments were often overbudget, prompting Mayor Lori Lightfoot to increase the budget for non-departmental legal costs.
Police settlements and judgments make up the vast majority of spending on legal costs, making up 72% of total settlement and judgment spending for the city. Of the 10 largest settlements or judgments paid by the city since 2010, six were paid for police misconduct according to the report.
In 2021, the most recent year available, police settlements and judgments cost Chicago taxpayers over $100 million, the highest in 11 years.
Given chronic under budgeting, it would be reasonable to raise the amount budgeted for incidents like these.
While Lightfoot raised the budget upon entering office in 2019, she has refused to raise it again, despite police payouts being over budget in 2019 and again in 2021. Citywide, what was spent in 2020 and 2021 didn’t exceed the budget.
The cost of these settlements and judgments is growing, suggesting little is being done to better train police to reduce incidents of misconduct.
While police misconduct erodes trust between communities and police, it also hurts city budgets, with taxpayers ultimately paying the price for police misconduct.
The #WasteofTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpentheBooks.com
Read Full Article »